Telecommunications fiber optic infrastructure

ABSTRACT

Proposed is an apparatus and process (collectively referred to as a “Fiber Center”) for deploying and managing a central office fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure in response to demand from either a customer location or another operating telephone company (OTC) location. Customer demand information and management parameters are entered into a software system. In response to the demand information, the software system describes the required standard components and prefabricated cables, assigns the standard components and prefabricated cables to a specific location and enters this information into a reference data base. Assembly of the fiber optic infrastructure is implemented according to an equipment order which is generated based on the description and location information in the reference data base.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/151,115, filed Sep. 10, 1998.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications fiberoptic infrastructures. More particularly, the present invention relatesto an apparatus and process for deploying and managing a central officefiber optic infrastructure in response to demand from either a customerlocation or other Operating Telephone Company (OTC) location.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Telecommunications central office infrastructure is deployed in responseto perceived or forecasted customer demand. The central officeinfrastructure includes a Fiber Distributing Frame (FDF), numerouscentral office equipments mounted in equipment bays which are arrangedin rows known as equipment lineups, and cables which connect the centraloffice equipments to outside plant (OSP) cable facilities via the FDF.

In most modern telephone central offices, the rows of equipment lineupsare placed parallel to the FDF. An overhead cable rack (sufficient inlength to extend from the FDF to the equipment lineup most distant fromthe FDF) is typically placed on one or both sides of and perpendicularto the FDF and equipment lineups. The cable rack provides a path forcables connecting between the FDF and equipment bay lineups in thecentral office. The cable racks provided for these cables can varybetween central offices based on specific site constraints.

Once the initial deployment of central office infrastructure is inplace, customer locations are connected to particular equipments withinthe central office. First, outside plant (OSP) cable from the customerlocations is terminated on the FDF. The specific location where an OSPcable connects to the FDF is known as a facility termination.

Equipments are physically installed in equipment bays which arepositioned in rows known as equipment lineups. The majority of centraloffice equipments are deployed in bulk amounts on an annual basis inresponse to forecasted demand. Other equipments are deployed as a directresult of specific customer requirements. Cable from these centraloffice equipments in the equipment lineups runs along the cable rack toparticular locations on the FDF which are known as equipmentterminations. A cross connect jumper is then run from a particularassigned equipment termination to a particular assigned facilitytermination on the FDF. This cross connect jumper is usually dual fiberand provides an optical connection as needed to service a particularcustomer location. Cable paths between equipment terminations on the FDFand the central office equipments in the equipment lineups are developedaccording to the peculiarities of each particular central officelocation.

Central office equipments are deployed with connectors mounted on theback plate of the equipment. These connectors facilitate connecting anequipment cable between the equipment and the FDF. Because the length ofthe equipment cable varies depending on the location of the equipment inthe equipment lineups, a custom length cable must be measured for eachequipment or group of equipments and connector assemblies must be fusionspliced to one end of the cable for connection to the connectors on theequipment back plate. If the connectors are improperly spliced to theequipment cable, the signal may be lost at the connection. Deploying onsite fabricated equipment cables and splicing connectors to the cable istime consuming, costly and inefficient.

Generally, the Operating Telephone Company (OTC) deploys OSP cable andcentral office equipments on an independent basis using separate workorders. These separate work orders result in facility and equipmentterminations which are randomly located on the FDF with no regard toinsuring proximity between terminations which will be connected with across connect jumper. Thus, cross connect jumpers on the FDF can varywidely in length and require ordering, stocking or on site fabricationprior to placement on the FDF. These methods of supplying cross connectjumpers are disadvantageous for reasons including the following: 1)rapid deployment of new services to the customer is impeded becausesupplying the jumpers can take from one day to two weeks, 2) fusionspliced connectors are required for each jumper, and 3) custom lengthjumpers are costly. In addition, the use of a cross connect jumper as anintermediate connection between the outside plant cables and theequipment cables is inefficient and requires two connection points whichresults in unnecessary signal loss.

The current central office infrastructure deployment methods do notprovide a fail-safe provision for positive verification of thedeployment of central office equipments or their corresponding equipmentterminations on the FDF. In most cases, the information included in thework order is entered into a data base. However, variables such asunverified work, omissions, and transcript errors result in a data basewhich can be far less than 100% accurate.

Current methods for the deployment of equipment bays in the centraloffice are best described as random. Equipment bays are deployed in thenext available space and access the FDF over a common cable rack at theend of the equipment lineup. When a particular lineup of equipment bayscan no longer be grown due to structural constraints or the local firecodes, a new lineup of equipment bays is started and run parallel to thefirst.

The new equipment lineup accesses the FDF over an extension to thecommon cable rack at the end of the existing equipment lineup. When aparticular cable rack reaches capacity, another route to the FDF isdesigned and a new cable rack is deployed. The same can be said for themethods for the deployment of equipment cable on the FDF. When newequipment is deployed, the corresponding equipment cable is terminatedon the next available shelf or shelves on the FDF. The method ofterminating OSP cables on the FDF is much the same, in that a new OSPcable is usually terminated on the next available shelves. BothEquipment terminations and OSP terminations are deployed on the FDF in amanner that is best described as random. There is no basic organizationand as a result all connections on the FDF are accomplished using crossconnects.

Cable management in the majority of central offices which deployequipment lineups in parallel to the FDF is inefficient. In thesecentral offices, cable routes must run from a particular equipment in adirection parallel to the equipment lineups until reaching the crossaisle (workplace safety concerns weigh against running cables directlyfrom a central office equipment on a fiber pathway above andperpendicular to the equipment lineups toward the FDF because workerswould be required to use ladders or other equipment to raise cablesabove the equipment lineups). Once at the cross aisle cable rack, cablesare run towards the FDF where they must turn and run parallel to the FDFto access a particular equipment termination on the FDF.

Cables in the cable rack are randomly stacked one upon another over theyears of operation of the central office. When a central officeequipment is retired or replaced, the cable(s) which connected thisparticular equipment to the FDF is cut and left in place in the cablerack. Because equipment retirement usually takes place approximately 10years after a cable is initially installed, the cable is usually buriedbeneath a 10 year accumulation of other cables in the cable rack. Theinability to identify specific cables within the cable rack makes actualremoval of the particular cable extremely burdensome. The OTC'sinability to identify specific cables within the cable rack means thecables cannot be reused to connect replacement equipment. As a result,cables are usually used for only 10 of their approximately 25 years ofuseful life. When a replacement or new equipment is deployed in theequipment lineups, a new cable must be deployed and placed on top of thestack of cables in the cable rack to connect this new equipment to theFDF. Thus, over a period of years, the cable rack essentially consistsof unused cut cables on the bottom of the cable rack and new cablesaccumulating on the top. Once the height of the cables in the rackbegins to exceed the rack capacity, cables on the bottom of the rack aremined. Mining entails using a variety of cutting and removal tools orsimilar equipment to cut and remove cables which may have been in placefor 10 or more years. Because the line between active and dead cable inthe cable rack is unknown to the OTC, the mining operation often resultsin service interruption to some customers as live cables areaccidentally cut and removed.

In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial needexists for an apparatus and process which addresses the above-discussedproblems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to deploying and managing atelecommunications fiber optic infrastructure. The basic infrastructurecomprises a fiber center distributing frame, customer equipment (such astelephones) connected to the fiber center distributing frame, andcentral office equipment (installed in equipment bays) connected to thefiber center distributing frame. The standard components required todeploy and manage the infrastructure are determined by entering customerdemand information into a software system. In response the customerdemand information, the software system describes the required standardcomponents and prefabricated cables, assigns the standard components andprefabricated cables to their specific locations and enters thisinformation into a reference data base.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical central office floor plan.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a Fiber Center floor plan in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed overhead view of a portion of theFIG. 2 floor plan divided into a series of Expansion Units in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of an Expansion Unit in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a typical example of a Fiber Distributing Frame (FDF)as it may be applied today.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of two Growth Units within a Fiber CenterDistributing Frame module (FCDF mod) in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an equipment termination interconnectedto particular OSP terminations within a Growth Unit in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a front, rear and side view of an example of aStandard Equipment Bay in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the addition of an equipment bay to anequipment lineup in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the installation of a central officeterminal (equipment—COT) and Connector Extension in a Standard EquipmentBay in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of Prefabricated Equipment Cable,consisting of three sections, and how these three sections relate to theFiber Center components in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 illustrates examples of FCDF and equipment connector assembliesin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of the sequential assembly of thecomponents necessary to establish the physical fiber cableinfrastructure in the distribution loop and the equipping of a specificspan within the infrastructure in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of the deployment of an initial OSP cablein accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the deployment of a tip cable and aprefabricated equipment cable within the Fiber Center facilitiesillustrated in FIG. 13 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of the deployment of a drop cable andRemote Terminal (RT), an interconnect jumper, and a Central OfficeTerminal (COT) with a Connector Extension within the Fiber Centerfacilities illustrated in FIG. 13 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of connecting an additional RT to the OSPcable of FIG. 14, the resultant deployment of an additional centraloffice equipment and the interconnection to the assigned OSPterminations on the FCDF in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of deploying an additional OSP cable witha tip cable, and the resultant deployment of both a PrefabricatedEquipment Cable and an additional equipment bay within the Fiber Centerfacilities of FIG. 13 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a Fiber Center component deployment inresponse to an OSP ring configuration in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of the first three of nine time points inthe deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of the second three of nine time pointsin the deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example of the last three of nine time points inthe deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of the evolution of the equipment cablesand equipments in a Fiber Center in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of the evolution of equipmentterminations on an FCDF mod shelf in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the equipment lineup evolution whichcorresponds to the equipment termination evolution of FIG. 24 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a design and management device inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 illustrates a flow chart which includes an example of the stepsfor using an assembly device with a design and management device inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention comprises an apparatus and a process (collectivelyreferred to in this document as the “Fiber Center”) for deploying andmanaging a fiber optic infrastructure in response to demand from eithera customer location or another Operating Telephone Company (OTC)location. This detailed description will first compare an example of atypical central office infrastructure floor plan with an example of afiber center floor plan using standardized components according to anembodiment of the present invention. Following this comparison, examplesof the individual standardized components of the fiber center fiberoptic infrastructure will be described in greater detail. Finally, aprocess for deploying and managing a fiber optic infrastructure inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention will be described.

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical central office floor plan. Two fiberdistributing frames (FDF) 102 are positioned on the far left side ofFIG. 1. Equipment lineups 104 are placed in rows parallel to the FDF102. Each one of the equipment lineups 104 consist of a series ofconnected equipment bays. Central office equipment is mounted in theequipment bays. Cable racks 106 are positioned perpendicular to the FDF102 and the equipment bay lineups 104.

As indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1, a cable (not shown) from aparticular central office equipment in the equipment bay lineups 104runs parallel to the equipment bay lineup 104 until reaching the cablerack 106. Upon reaching the cable rack 106, the cable runs in adirection towards the FDF 102. Near the FDF 102, the cable again runs ina parallel direction until reaching an equipment termination point onthe FDF 102. OSP cables 108, also represented by arrows, run from aparticular customer location and terminate on the FDF 102 at a locationknown as a facility termination. To complete a connection between theparticular customer location and a central office equipment in theequipment bay lineups 104, a cross connect jumper (not shown) isconnected from the facility termination to the equipment termination onthe FDF 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a Fiber Center floor plan in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. Two Fiber CenterDistributing Frames (FCDF) 202 (discussed in greater detail below), arepositioned on the far left side of FIG. 2. In contrast to the equipmentlineups 104 in FIG. 1, the equipment lineups 204 are positioned inparallel rows substantially perpendicular to the FCDF 202. Equipmentlineups 204 consist of a series of connected standard equipment bays(described in greater detail below). OSP cables 206 run from a customerlocation or other central office and terminate on the FCDF 202. Thistermination point is known as a facility termination.

The arrows between the parallel rows of the equipment lineups 204indicate the direction prefabricated equipment cables are run fromindividual central office equipments in the equipment lineups 204 to theFCDF 202. In contrast to the use of the cable rack 106 in FIG. 1, thisembodiment entails deploying equipment cables along an overhead cablepathway (not shown). Connecting a customer location to a particularcentral office equipment in this embodiment is similar to the connectiondescribed with reference to FIG. 1. However, in this embodiment, crossconnect jumpers are significantly reduced by proximately locatingrelated facility and equipment terminations on the FCDF 202 (thisprocess, known as “grooming”, will be discussed in greater detailbelow).

A more detailed description of the standardized components of the FiberCenter floor plan of FIG. 2 begins with the Fiber Center Expansion Unit.The Fiber Center Expansion Unit is the basic building block for theFiber Center infrastructure of the present invention. The Fiber Centerinfrastructure of FIG. 2 consists of a series of Expansion Units. FIG. 3illustrates a more detailed overhead view of a portion of the FIG. 2floor plan divided into a series of Expansion Units in accordance withthe present invention. Each of the five Expansion Units 302, 304, 306,308 and 310 consist of a pair of facing FCDF modules (mods) 311-320 anda pair of equipment lineups 322, 324, 326, 328 and 330. The FCDF modsare a specific type of FDF which will be described in greater detailbelow. The arrows from the block labeled “Outside Plant” in FIG. 3represent cables from customer locations which terminate on one of theFCDF mods 311-320.

Equipment lineups 322, 324, 326, 328 and 330 consist of a series ofstandardized equipment bays. Each standardized equipment bay (describedin greater detail below) includes a number of central office equipmentmounting positions on which central office equipment is placed. Theequipment lineups are of sufficient length to accommodate the number ofcentral office equipments needed to support the OSP facilities whosecables terminate on the FCDF mod(s) in the corresponding Expansion Unit.In the preferred embodiment of a fiber optic infrastructure inaccordance with the present invention, a pair of equipment lineupssupports one FCDF mod or two facing FCDF mods.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of an Expansion Unit in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, a pair of two facingFCDF mods 400 are connected to a pair of equipment lineups 402 and 404via a fiber cable pathway 406 (described in greater detail below). Asmentioned previously, the equipment lineups 402 and 404 consist of aseries of standardized equipment bays. Cables which connect centraloffice equipments to the equipment termination points on the FCDF mod(s)400 run along the fiber pathway 406.

Two facing FCDF mods may be supported by two equipment lineups ofapproximately forty-five equipment bays each as illustrated in FIG. 4.Demand for equipment replacement may be served by the deployment of newstand alone equipment to replace existing equipment or the deployment ofoptical/digital switch technology to replace existing stand alone orswitch equipment. When stand alone equipment demand occurs, theequipment lineup(s) may be extended and the equipment bays equipped(i.e., provided with equipments). The Fiber Center response to switchtechnology demand may be the extension of the fiber cable pathways to aseparate floor location for switch equipment. From an equipped spanperspective, the Fiber Center Expansion Unit is a self contained FDFwith the equipment support capability to accommodate growth, upgrade andreplacement requirements.

FIG. 5 illustrates a typical fiber distributing frame (FDF) 501 as itmay be found in a central office today. FDF 501 comprises an OSP bay 502and a central office equipment bay 503 onto which OSP cable and centraloffice equipments are terminated respectively. OSP bay 502 comprisesnine shelves numbered 511-519. Equipment bay 503 comprises shelves521-529. Both OSP bay 502 and Equipment bay 503 are equipped with anupper horizontal trough 504 and a lower horizontal trough 505 forrouting cross connect jumpers over a distance of more than one bay. BothOSP bay 502 and equipment bay 503 are equipped with a vertical trough509 on either side to route cross connect jumpers to or from either theupper or lower horizontal trough. A retaining ring 508 is positioned inthe vertical trough on the outside of the end bay in a FDF lineup and isused to route and organize the fiber cross connect jumpers that are runin the troughs. When FDF bays are added the retaining ring 508 isreplaced by a retaining ring 507 which is twice the width and is placedacross the vertical troughs of two adjacent FDF bays. A jumper hanger506 is placed at the top of the vertical troughs of each pair of FDFbays to allow excess cross connect jumper slack to be draped and stored.

In the preferred Fiber Center embodiment, each Expansion Unit (asillustrated in FIG. 3) may contain up to four Growth Units (two GrowthUnits per FCDF mod). A Growth Unit is an area on the FCDF mod where bothOSP and inside plant (equipment) cables are terminated. FIG. 6illustrates an example of two Growth Units within a FCDF mod inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Horizontally,the FCDF mod 610 comprises an OSP side 611 and an equipment (insideplant) side 612. Vertically, the FCDF mod 610 consists of 9 shelves601-609. Lower Growth Unit 614 of FCDF mod 610 comprises shelves601-604. Upper Growth Unit 613 on FCDF mod 610 comprises shelves606-609. FCDF mod 610 also includes two groups of four rectangularshaped equipment cable ports 616 and 618. Equipment cable ports 616 and618 provide a structure through which prefabricated equipment cables aredeployed prior to terminating the prefabricated cables on a FCDF mod.

As mentioned above, each Expansion Unit contains up to four GrowthUnits. In the preferred embodiment, a Growth Unit consists of fourconsecutive OSP shelves on the FCDF mod and the adjacent fourconsecutive inside plant shelves within the same FCDF mod. The closeproximity of the OSP and inside plant shelves enables all equipped spanconfigurations within a particular Growth Unit to be interconnected (asdescribed below). A span is defined as the transmission path between aremote equipment at a customer location (such as a telephone) and acentral office equipment.

In the preferred Fiber Center embodiment, All OSP (facility) and insideplant (equipment) terminations within a Growth Unit are linked in a database as a common group (the data base will be described in greaterdetail below). In the preferred embodiment, any equipment within theGrowth Unit can be assigned to any OSP termination within the sameGrowth Unit. In the preferred embodiment, the length of an equipmentcable jumper (described in detail below) for a prefabricated equipmentcable terminating at a location within a Growth Unit is that whichallows the jumper to connect to any termination in the four shelves ofthe Growth Unit and the middle shelf between the upper and lower growthunits. This middle shelf (shelf 605 in FIG. 6) is used whentransitioning from existing FDF configurations. During the transition,OSP cables are temporarily terminated on shelf 605 to provideinterconnection for the existing OSP facilities during the transition.Thus, shelf 605 provides a simplified standard arrangement for theutilization of existing OSP facilities while these facilities are beingupgraded and/or reterminated.

Using the preferred embodiment, the OTC may terminate 72 spans within aGrowth Unit. These 72 spans may connect to the Growth Unit from an OSPgeography served by connection configurations known as “point to point”or “ring” spans. These configurations will be described below. Thepreferred embodiment also permits the OTC to deploy the infrastructureusing a mixture of these configurations. The Growth Unit facilitates thepreferential association of 72 OSP fiber spans and up to 144 equipments.As discussed in greater detail below, this preferential associationresults in a preferred Growth Unit shelf termination ratio of less than1 to 1. Managing the Growth Unit is provided by the “grooming andlinking” of the equipment terminations to the OSP terminations (groomingand linking are discussed in greater detail below).

In the preferred embodiment, each FCDF mod including two Growth Unitsmay terminate 576 fibers, which equates to 144 fiber spans. Thus, aninitial Fiber Center consisting of three FCDF mods with the necessarysupporting equipment lineups, has the capacity to terminate and equip144 spans in each of the mods for a total capacity of 432 fiber spans. AFiber Center configuration may grow to 10 Expansion Units (whichconsists of up to 20 FCDF mods (two 10 mod lineups facing each other)and the attendant equipment lineups) with the capacity to terminate andequip 288 spans in each for a total capacity of 2880 spans. Should theultimate demand require a larger number of spans to be equipped, asecond, third or fourth configuration can be added to and integratedwith that which has been previously deployed so long as the necessaryfloor space is available.

Referring to FIG. 2, central office equipments in equipment lineups 204are connected to FCDF 202 via prefabricated equipment cables (not shownin FIG. 2; described below). In the preferred embodiment, theprefabricated equipment cables terminate within the FCDF mod GrowthUnits. These equipment terminations will now be discussed in greaterdetail.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an equipment termination interconnectedto corresponding OSP terminations within the Growth Unit in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. As mentioned above, withreference to FIG. 6, a Growth Unit consists of four consecutive FCDF modshelves. The Growth Unit shelf of FIG. 7 comprises an OSP side 702, aninside plant side 704, and two equipment cable ports 706 and 708.Assigned jumpers 714 and stored jumpers 716 are connected to a centraloffice equipment in a equipment lineup (not shown) via a prefabricatedequipment cable and a connector extension (both are discussed in greaterdetail below). Jumper hanger 710 provides a structure on which to hangslack from stored jumpers.

The first step toward arriving at the termination configurationillustrated in FIG. 7 entails placing and anchoring the prefabricatedequipment cable (to which the assigned jumpers 714 and the storedjumpers 716 are spliced) in the equipment cable port 708. All jumpersspliced to the prefabricated equipment cable may be initially stored onthe inside plant side 704 of the Growth Unit and eventually assigned andmoved to the adjacent OSP side 702 of the same Growth Unit. Once theprefabricated equipment cable jumpers are moved to the OSP side 702, thecentral office equipment may be interconnected to an OSP cable whichterminates in the same Growth Unit. Interconnection eliminates thecurrent need for a cross connect jumper.

After connecting one or more jumpers on the OSP side, one or morejumpers from the same prefabricated equipment cable may be stored on theinside plant side 704 of the Growth Unit. Thus, FIG. 7 illustrates apoint in time after the central office equipment connected to jumpers714 has been assigned to a particular OSP cable. Stored jumpers 716 willbe used to facilitate future interconnection of central officeequipments to other OSP cable terminations within the same Growth Unit.

As mentioned previously, in the preferred embodiment, equipment cablesfrom equipment lineups terminate on FCDF mods which are within the sameExpansion Unit as the equipment lineups. In the Fiber Center, the OSPand inside plant fiber cables are viewed as if they were one. The twocables are terminated as close to each other as possible, on adjacentinside plant and OSP sides of the FCDF mod Growth Unit.

Grooming is the termination of supporting inside plant cables adjacentto and in response to OSP cable termination. When the OSP fiber cable isdeployed from the customer or other location, equipment will be requiredto provide service for that location. By deploying the equipmentterminations within close proximity to the OSP terminations, the OSP andthe inside plant sides of the infrastructure (defined as all the fibercable from the customer connectors through the FCDF to the equipment bayconnectors) are positioned for optimum assignment.

Linking associates prefabricated equipment cable with the OSP cable thattriggered deployment of that prefabricated equipment cable. Thisrelationship will be selected when demand to equip the physicalinfrastructure materializes. The linked equipment cable indicates whereto equip the physical fiber cable infrastructure.

The concept of grooming and linking is one that is focused on achievinginterconnect rather than cross connect when assembling an equippedoptical span. When demand requires the assembly of a non-equippedoptical span, the OSP fiber terminations are predetermined and becauseof this, may be cross connected. The present invention is configured tosupport cross connection of non-equipped spans. As a result of grooming,the OSP (facility) and equipment terminations on the FCDF are locatedwithin such close proximity that they can be interconnected rather thancross connected, thereby eliminating the cross connect jumper and oneconnection point, which, in effect, eliminates one potential troublepoint. In addition, the elimination of this connection point reduces thesignal loss between the customer location and the central officeequipment. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a point to pointconfiguration interconnected on the FCDF. The present invention alsosupports ring configuration interconnection on the FCDF. The concept ofgrooming demands that sufficient equipment termination space beavailable in the Growth Unit to provide full equipment support for theadjacent OSP cables terminated in that Growth Unit. This suggestssomething other than a 1:1 OSP to equipment (inside plant) terminationratio when the various support functions the equipment will be requiredto perform are considered. Examples of these support functions includethe following: span assembly, disassembly, facility change, equipmentchange Switch introduction and replacement. A FCDF mod shelfconcentration ratio of 1:1 will have less than adequate turn aroundspace to support all of these requirements. In the preferred embodiment,an FCDF mod shelf termination ratio of 1:2 is optimal and allows up to100% replacement capability.

As mentioned previously, each of the equipment lineups illustrated inFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 consist of a series of connected standard equipmentbays. FIG. 8 illustrates a front, rear and side view of an example of astandard equipment bay in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 8, a center section of a standard equipment bay 802comprises an unequal flange bay 804. The front view of the standardequipment bay 802 illustrates a front vertical trough 816 attached tothe left side of the unequal flange bay 804. An equipment bay connector806 is removably attached to the top of the unequal flange bay 804.Connector extensions (which facilitate a connection between an equipmentbay connector 806 and a central office equipment placed in a mountingposition within the unequal flange bay 804) are placed within thevertical trough 816. The top of standard equipment bay 802 is adapted toaccommodate a section of fiber cable pathway 808. The fiber cablepathway (illustrated in FIG. 4) provides a pathway for prefabricatedequipment cables which are connected between equipment bay connector 806and a FCDF mod within the same Expansion Unit. The rear view of standardequipment bay 802 illustrates a rear vertical trough 818 attached to theleft side of the unequal flange bay 804. The side view of standardequipment bay 802 illustrates a digital signal cross connect (DSX)pathway 820 removably attached to rear vertical trough 818. Right andleft down spouts 810 and 812 respectively provide a path from the fibercable pathway 808 to the equipment bay connector 806.

The standard equipment bay is an off the shelf assembly that expands theFiber Center in all situations, regardless of application or location.As described below, deployment of prefabricated equipment cable istriggered by the deployment of an OSP cable from a customer location.When the demand to deploy a prefabricated equipment cable is such thatthere are insufficient equipment mounting positions (for example, lessthan six) in an existing equipment bay, the addition of another standardequipment bay is triggered. The equipment mounting positions may be inan equipped, an unequipped, or a spare state.

Each standard equipment bay is adapted to connect to additional standardequipment bays on either the left or right side of each standardequipment bay in response to demand specified on the equipment order(discussed below). When an equipment order calls for the equipmentlineup to grow right, the standard equipment bay right down spout 812 isattached to the new equipment bay and vice versa. However, when theexpansion is the first equipment bay in any equipment lineup, both theleft and right down spouts are included. Regardless of which directionthe equipment lineup is facing, the down spout is always positioned atthe farthest point on the standard equipment bay away from the FCDF.This provides flexibility in relocating a specific equipment cable to adifferent equipment bay connector when preparing to re-equip a bay orgroup of bays. The prefabricated equipment cable passes beyond theequipment bay connector 806 and loops back, providing the additionalcable necessary to reach the next equipment bay. As described below,equipment cable may be moved from one equipment bay to another inresponse to increased equipments per bay requirements when re-equippinga particular equipment bay. The DSX pathway provides the path for the(metallic) DSX cable from the back plane of the equipment on theequipment bay to the DSX cable rack.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the addition of an equipment bay to anequipment lineup in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 9, standard equipment bay 902 includes right downspout 904 because equipment lineup 906 is growing to the right inresponse to demand. As mentioned above, the addition of a new equipmentbay to an equipment lineup is triggered by the demand to deployadditional prefabricated equipment cable where there are less than sixmounting positions remaining in the last equipment bay within theequipment lineup. In the preferred embodiment, one prefabricatedequipment cable requires six remaining equipment mounting positions inthe last equipment bay in the equipment lineup. This convention stillapplies when demand requires the deployment of high capacity equipments.In some Inter-Office or high density loop applications, the much largerphysical size of the equipment required may result in the spreading ofthe equipment cable across two, three or six equipment bays. The two,three or six equipment should be deployed prior to deploying theequipment cable so that equipment bay connector housings are availableto accommodate the equipment cable connector assemblies.

As previously mentioned, each central office equipment within equipmentlineups 204 of FIG. 2 is connected to FCDF 202 via a prefabricatedequipment cable and a connector extension. The connector extension runsfrom a particular central office equipment to the equipment bayconnector attached to the standard equipment bay in which the equipmentis mounted. The prefabricated equipment cable completes the connectionbetween the particular central office equipment and the FCDF by runningfrom the equipment bay connector along the fiber cable pathway to theFCDF where termination takes place as illustrated in the example of FIG.6. The connector extension and the prefabricated equipment cable willnow be discussed in greater detail.

The connector extension may be, for example, a four fiber jumper from anindividual central office equipment to the corresponding equipment bayconnector. FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the installation of acentral office equipment and connector extension in a standard equipmentbay in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.10, a central office equipment 1006 is initially outside of the standardequipment bay 1004. In the preferred embodiment, central officeequipment 1006 arrives at the central office from the manufacturer witha standard length connector extension 1002 and a connector 1012attached. Connector 1012 is adapted to connect to an equipment bayconnector 1010. Equipment bay connector 1010 is removably attached tothe top of standard equipment bay 1004. A vertical trough 1008 isattached to the left side of standard equipment bay 1004.

As indicated in FIG. 10, installing the central office equipment andconnector extension into standard equipment bay 1004 entails placing andattaching a central office equipment 1006 in a mounting position withinequipment bay 1004. Connector extension 1002 is placed within verticaltrough 1008 and connector 1012 is connected to equipment bay connector1010. Connector extension 1002 arrives from the central office equipmentmanufacturer sized to a standard length which will reach equipment bayconnector 1010 from the lowest equipment mounting position in standardequipment bay 1004. Standardizing the size of the equipment bay inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the Fiber Center enablesmanufacturers of central office equipment to deliver the equipment withstandard length connector extensions which will not require furthercustomizing at the central office. Thus, the OTC can eliminate the stepsof cutting custom length jumpers and splicing connectors to these customlength jumpers prior to installing a central office equipment in anequipment bay. Standard length connector extensions save money andexpedite the deployment of central office equipment by eliminating thetime spent customizing equipment cables and jumpers. Connector extensionslack from the central office equipment mounted above the bottommounting position is stored in the standard equipment bay verticaltrough.

As mentioned above, in the preferred Fiber Center embodiment,prefabricated equipment cable completes the connection between centraloffice equipment and the FCDF by running from the equipment bayconnector along the fiber cable pathway to the FCDF. The physicalorganization and layout of the Fiber Center components described aboveenable accurate prefabrication of equipment cables in the preferredembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a prefabricated equipment cable,consisting of three sections, and how these three sections relate toFiber Center components in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 11, a prefabricated equipment cable 1102 comprises anFCDF connector assembly (standard length first section) 1104, a variablelength horizontal second section 1106, and an equipment bay connectorassembly (standard length third section) 1108. The FCDF connectorassembly 1104 and the equipment bay connector assembly 1108 are splicedto opposite ends of the horizontal section 1106. When the prefabricatedequipment cable 1102 is deployed to connect a central office equipmentto an FCDF mod, the horizontal second section 1106 is deployed in thefiber cable pathway, the FCDF connector assembly 1104 runs from thefiber cable pathway to a cable port on the FCDF mod and equipment bayconnector assembly 1108 runs from the fiber cable pathway down to theequipment bay connector attached to the standard equipment bay. The FCDFconnector assembly 1104 and the equipment bay connector assembly 1108will be discussed in greater detail below. FIG. 11 will be used toillustrate the method for determining the length of horizontal section1106 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

The lower portion of FIG. 11 illustrates the application of benchmarksat down spouts over the length of the fiber cable pathway in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. A benchmark is a visibleindicator which highlights the location of a down spout in a fiber cablepathway. Equipment cables deployed in a Fiber Center fiber cable pathwaypass through down spouts and therefore benchmarks, to access particularFiber Center components directly below the fiber cable pathway.Reference marks may consist, for example, of numbers and/or letterspainted on the fiber cable pathway. In the lower portion of FIG. 11, apair of facing FCDF mods 1120 are connected to an equipment lineup 1122via a fiber cable pathway 1124. A cross aisle 1126 is a space betweenequipment bays in the equipment lineup 1122 which may permit, forexample, OTC employees to walk between equipment lineups. In FIG. 11,benchmarks which indicate the location of down spouts (not shown) overthe fiber cable pathway, are labeled alphabetically. For example, thebenchmark labeled “B1” highlights the location of the down spout overthe fiber cable pathway 1124 which is above the first equipment bay inthe equipment lineup 1122.

The use of benchmarks in Fiber Center fiber cable pathways enables anaccurate determination of the length of the variable horizontalequipment cable section 1106 and therefore, the ability to prefabricateall equipment cable that is to be deployed to correspond to thepredetermined distances. Lengths A′A (the length between the pair ofFCDF mods 1120), AB (the length between the first equipment bay in theequipment lineup and the FCDF mod closest to that equipment bay), BnCA(the length of cross aisle 1126) and BnCA′ (the length of the secondcross aisle, not shown) in FIG. 11 are measured on site at the timecentral office facilities are installed. Length BBn is dependent on thenumber of equipment bays in equipment lineup 1122 and is readilydetermined. The use of standard equipment bays determines that thelength BBn always corresponds to a multiple of the width of an equipmentbay (for example, a standard equipment bay may have a width of 26inches). The length of a horizontal section of a prefabricated equipmentcable required to reach from FCDF 1120 to any standard equipment bay inequipment lineup 1122 is the sum of lengths AB, A′A, BnCA, BnCA′ andBBn, where BnCA is the length of the first cross aisle 1126, BnCA′ thelength of a second cross aisle (not shown) and BBn is the number ofstandard equipment bays×26 inches.

The following example will illustrate the use of benchmarks such asthose illustrated in FIG. 11. Suppose demand requires an equipment cableto be deployed from the upper or lower Growth Unit on the FCDF marked A′in FIG. 11 to a mounting position in standard equipment bay 1128. Thefollowing lengths are measured on site at the time of the facilityinstallation: length AB=66″, A′A=60″, and CA=60″. The number ofequipment bays in the equipment lineup is 21, therefore BBn=21×26″=546″.Thus, the total horizontal length required for a prefabricated equipmentcable to reach from the FCDF (benchmark A′) to standard equipment bay 21in the equipment lineup (benchmark B21 is 732″ or 61′. The equipmentcable, including the appropriate connector assemblies at each end, isprefabricated to include the horizontal length, plus sufficient slack tofacilitate connections. Corresponding reference marks (A′ and B21) aremarked on the prefabricated equipment cable to assist in deploying thecable in the fiber cable pathway.

FIG. 12 illustrates examples of FCDF and equipment bay connectorassemblies in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The upperportion of FIG. 12 illustrates the three sections of the prefabricatedequipment cable. The lower portion of FIG. 12 illustrates an example ofhow the FCDF and equipment bay connector assemblies of this sameprefabricated equipment cable relate to previously described FiberCenter components when the cable is deployed.

As illustrated in the upper portion of FIG. 12, prefabricated equipmentcable 1202 comprises three sections: a FCDF connector assembly (standardlength first section) 1204, a horizontal second section 1206, and aequipment bay connector assembly (standard length third section) 1208.The FCDF connector assembly 1204 and the equipment bay connectorassembly 1208 are spliced to opposite ends of the horizontal section1206 of the prefabricated equipment cable 1202. FCDF connectors 1210 areattached to one end of the FCDF connector assembly 1204. Connectors 1212are attached to one end of the equipment bay connector assembly 1208.Reference mark “A” indicates the location where the prefabricatedequipment cable 1202 may be placed relative to a corresponding benchmarklabeled “A” at the down spout in a fiber cable pathway above an FCDF mod(as described above). Similarly, reference mark “C” indicates thelocation where the prefabricated equipment cable 1202 may be placedrelative to the corresponding benchmark labeled “C” at a down spout in afiber cable pathway above the standard equipment bay (as describedabove). The lower portion of FIG. 12 illustrates two Growth Unit OSPshelves 1216 and 1218 (as previously described) within an FCDF mod andan equipment bay connector 1220 (as previously described).

In the preferred embodiment of the Fiber Center, the FCDF connectorassembly 1204 (the length of equipment cable 1202 between reference markA and the FCDF connectors 1210 in FIG. 12) comprises six quad fiberjumpers spliced to a 24 fiber equipment cable 1202. Each of the six quadfiber jumpers is spliced to two dual fiber jumpers that terminate tosingle FCDF connectors 1210. The total length of FCDF connector assembly1204 is standardized to reach, for example, from a point in a down spoutbelow a fiber cable pathway above the FCDF, pass through equipment cableport 1222 and reach to the farthest OSP connectors in a particularGrowth Unit within that particular FCDF mod. This arrangement enablesany supporting equipment termination to be interconnected to any OSPtermination within the Growth Unit.

The lower portion of FIG. 12 illustrates an example of how the jumpersof FCDF connector assembly 1204 might be interconnected on two GrowthUnit shelves. These jumpers function as the stored and assigned(interconnected) jumpers illustrated in FIG. 7. When prefabricatedequipment cable 1202 is deployed, second section 1206 is run in thefiber cable pathway (not shown). Reference mark A of the prefabricatedequipment cable 1202 is located at the corresponding benchmark in thefiber cable pathway (not shown) above the FCDF mod which includesshelves 1216 and 1218. The FCDF connector assembly is run from benchmarkA down the rear (cable side) of the FCDF mod to the equipment cable port1222. The 24 fiber equipment cable portion of the FCDF connectorassembly is secured in equipment cable port 1222 after the connector endof the FCDF connector assembly has been passed through cable port 1222.The connectors may then be stored in the equipment side of the FCDF modor interconnected to their assigned OSP terminations on shelves 1216 and1218 within the same FCDF mod as illustrated.

Third section 1208 (the length of prefabricated equipment cable 1202between reference mark C in FIG. 12 and the connectors 1212 is a harnessassembly that is spliced to a 24 fiber equipment cable 1202 in thepreferred embodiment of the Fiber Center. The length of third section1208 is standardized to extend from benchmark C in the fiber cablepathway above an equipment bay to the equipment bay connector housing ofthe equipment bay. Connectors 1212 are adapted in groups of four tomount in the equipment bay connector housing attached to the standardequipment bays.

The lower portion of FIG. 12 illustrates how third section 1208 relatesto an equipment bay connector on an equipment bay. When prefabricatedequipment cable 1202 is deployed, reference mark C is aligned to thecorresponding benchmark C in the fiber cable pathway (not shown) abovethe desired equipment bay (not shown). Connectors are then mounted inthe equipment bay connector housing 1220.

Prefabricated equipment cable is reference marked at the midpoint of allcross aisle locations to assist in future cable redistribution andmining operations. To accommodate the continued reduction in physicalequipment size which is anticipated in the future, the prefabricatedequipment cable can be assembled to access the future shelf plug-inunits of the optical ports of a digital switch or ports of an opticalswitch. The overall prefabricated equipment cable assembly is basicallythe same as described above, except that standard length third sectionis a length dependent on the specific mounting location within theequipment bay which is readily determined. The significantly largerphysical size of inter-office (I/O) or other high capacity equipment mayrequire the prefabricated equipment cable to be spread over two, threeor six equipment bays. The equipment bay connector assembly of aprefabricated equipment cable may be configured to access two or moreconsecutive equipment bays in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Prefabricated equipment cable may also be assembled to accommodate crossconnect when required by specific demand. The Fiber Center enables theuser to deploy equipment cable that may be prefabricated, assembled onsite or upgraded on site. Any of a number of connector assemblies may beutilized on either the FCDF or the equipment bay end of theprefabricated equipment cable in response to specific demand.

The assembly of prefabricated equipment cable, as described above,enables the user to not only prefabricate all new equipment cable, butalso to upgrade existing equipment cable from an equipment bay connectortermination assembly to a shelf plug-in termination assembly. Thephysical operation of upgrading these connector assemblies entails firstlocating the previously established reference mark on the deployedprefabricated equipment cable. Next, the prefabricated equipment cableis cut at the reference mark and the existing equipment bay connectorassembly is removed. Finally, the new replacement shelf plug-inconnector assembly is spliced to the prefabricated equipment cable atthe reference mark.

Prefabricated equipment cables may also be marked with identificationinformation to facilitate the redistribution, reuse and/or removal ofthe cable. The cable ID is written in a form which indicates the originand endpoint of a cable (from+to). The “from is” nn(FCDF #)−nnn(FCDF mod#)−nn(FCDF shelf and block). The “to” is nnn/a-f or nn(equipmentbay)/(connector block or shelf and block). Thus, a cable ID01−008−32+014/b identifies the cable as from FCDF 01, mod 008, shelf 3,block 2 to equipment bay 014, connector block b. Cable ID is physicallymarked to the right and left of the reference marks including those thatalign to the midpoint of the cross aisles.

The process of assembling a Fiber Center in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention will now be described with referenceto the components described above. In many of the OTCs, the engineeringand operations are separated by outside and inside work functions. Theprocess and apparatus of Fiber Center positions the OTC to blend bothoutside and inside functions into one, gain significant costefficiencies in both material and labor, and deliver a superior product.The primary focus of Fiber Center is to respond to demand, whetherInter-Office (between central offices) or Loop (between the customerlocations and the central office). Predeployment of central officeequipment is an option that is available for extraordinarycircumstances. Demand requires the OTC to provide service to aparticular location. If no spare cable facilities exist, the demand isinterpreted as a requirement to build a cable and equip a span in thatcable. If spare cable facilities exist, the demand requires that a spanin that cable be equipped. Both the outside activities and the insideresponses are interdependent. Activity outside triggers a responseinside. When an OSP cable is deployed outside, a prefabricated equipmentcable is deployed inside. When a customer location is equipped outside,an equipment bay mounting position is equipped inside. The processinvolves constructing a physical fiber infrastructure (defined as allthe fiber cable from the customer location through the FCDF to thecentral office equipment) and equipping the physical fiberinfrastructure.

In response to demand, whether from a customer location or other centraloffice, the OSP cable from the customer location (or other centraloffice) is assigned to a specific location within a splicing area(described below), a specific Growth Unit within a specific FCDF mod anda specific shelf within that Growth Unit. This activity, in turn,triggers cabling an adjacent equipment shelf in the FCDF mod over afiber cable pathway to the next available central office equipmentlocation. The physical deployment of the OSP facility cable, in fact,triggers the deployment of a complement of groomed and linked equipmentcable to a group of locations within the equipment lineup. One of thelocations will ultimately be equipped and provide service to aparticular customer location. The physical fiber infrastructure, bothoutside and inside, is constructed as one.

Once the physical fiber infrastructure is constructed, the next stepentails equipping the fiber infrastructure. The equipping of a specificspan in the physical fiber infrastructure is initiated simultaneously atthe customer location or other central office and in the Fiber Center(whether the remote equipment is provided by the customer or the OTC).The equipping of the physical fiber infrastructure is the deployment ofequipment to both ends of the fiber span in response to either customerdemand or network requirement. These demands and requirements are thetriggers to equip an optical span and will identify the particular fiberoptic facility cable and count to be equipped. A specific Growth Unit isidentified along with the available equipment locations and associatedequipment terminations within the Growth Unit. The demand triggers theassignment of the next available spare equipment location and equipmentterminations within that Growth Unit. The physical fiber infrastructure,both outside and inside, is equipped as one.

FIG. 13 illustrates the sequential assembly of the components necessaryto establish the physical fiber cable infrastructure in a loop and theequipping of a span within the infrastructure in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. However, the present invention also coversassembling components to establish the physical fiber cableinfrastructure in an inter-office network and equipping a specific spanwithin that infrastructure. Activity outside the Fiber Center iscomplemented by activity inside the Fiber Center. First, an OSP cable1302 and a tip cable 1304 are deployed. In response, a prefabricatedequipment cable 1306 is deployed in the Fiber Center. Next, a drop cable1308 and a remote terminal (RT)(also referred to as a “remoteequipment”) 1310 are deployed at the customer location and a centraloffice terminal (COT) (also referred to as “central office equipment”)1312 is deployed in the central office. The RT 1310 may be provided byeither the customer or the OTC.

The entire fiber cable is assembled both outside and inside and equippedat both ends. An activity outside triggers an activity inside. FIG. 14illustrates an example of the deployment of an initial OSP cable inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Once an OSPcable 1402 is deployed, a FCDF 1406, a fiber cable pathway 1408 and aninitial equipment bay 1410 are deployed within the fiber center.

Following the activity illustrated in FIG. 14, a tip cable is deployedfrom the splicing area to the OSP side of the Growth Unit within theFCDF. FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the deployment of a tip cableand a prefabricated equipment cable within the Fiber Center facilitiesillustrated in FIG. 14 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. When deployed, one end of the tip cable 1502 is spliced toOSP fiber cable 1506 in splicing area 1514. Another end of tip cable1502 terminates on the OSP side of a Growth Unit within the FCDF 1508.The deployment of tip cable 1502 is followed by the deployment of agroomed and linked prefabricated equipment cable 1504 from an adjacentequipment shelf in the same FCDF Growth Unit along the fiber cablepathway 1512 to an equipment bay connector 1516 attached to standardequipment bay 1510. At this point all the jumpers spliced toprefabricated equipment cable 1504 as part of the FCDF connectorassembly are stored on the equipment side of the Growth Unit within theFCDF mod 1508.

The next steps in assembling the OSP and equipment cables which willconnect the customer location to a central office equipment entail thefollowing: 1) deploying a drop cable to the equipment (remote terminal)at the customer location, 2) moving at least one stored prefabricatedequipment cable jumper from the equipment side of the Growth Unit to anassigned position on the OSP side of the same FCDF Growth Unit (asdescribed with reference to FIG. 7 above), and 3) mounting a C.O.Terminal and deploying the connector extension from the C.O. Terminal inthe equipment bay to the equipment bay connector at the top of theequipment bay (as described with reference to FIG. 10).

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of the deployment of a drop cable andremote terminal (equipment), an interconnect jumper, a C.O. Terminal anda connector extension within the Fiber Center facilities illustrated inFIG. 14 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Adrop cable and a remote terminal 1602 are connected to an OSP fibercable 1608 at the customer or other central office location. A centraloffice terminal 1614 with an attached connector extension 1606 isdeployed in the next available equipment mounting position in equipmentbay 1610. A connector extension 1606 is connected to the first availableterminations on an equipment bay connector 1612. Finally, aninterconnect jumper 1604 is moved from the stored position in theequipment shelf of the Growth Unit within a FCDF mod 1616 and assignedto appropriate terminations on the adjacent OSP shelf.

When an additional drop cable and remote terminal are deployed at acustomer location served by the same OSP cable illustrated in FIGS.14-16, an additional central office equipment is deployed in the nextavailable equipment bay mounting position. The respective groomed andlinked equipment terminations are interconnected to the assigned OSPterminations on the FCDF. FIG. 17 illustrates an example of connectingan additional drop cable and remote equipment to the OSP cable of FIG.14, the resulting deployment of an additional central office equipmentand the interconnection to the assigned OSP terminations on the FCDF inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. First, a remoteterminal equipment and associated drop cable 1702 are deployed at thecustomer location and connected to an OSP fiber cable 1708. Next, acentral office equipment and an attached connector extension 1706 aredeployed to the next available mounting position within an equipment bay1710. The connector extension 1706 is connected to the first availableterminations on an equipment bay connector 1712. Finally, aninterconnect jumper 1704 is moved from the stored position on the insideplant (equipment) side of the Growth Unit within a FCDF mod 1714 andassigned and connected to terminations on an adjacent OSP shelf withinthe same Growth Unit.

If a new OSP cable is deployed and terminated on the FCDF with a tipcable, the deployment of a groomed and linked prefabricated equipmentcable is triggered. The deployment of the prefabricated equipment cablemay trigger the addition of an equipment bay to the equipment lineupshould there be insufficient mounting positions available on theexisting equipment bay. As mentioned previously, in the preferred FiberCenter embodiment, the deployment of a new equipment bay is triggered bythe deployment of a prefabricated equipment cable to an equipment baythat has less than six equipment mounting positions remaining.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of deploying an additional OSP cable witha tip cable, and the resulting deployment of a prefabricated equipmentcable and an additional equipment bay within the Fiber Center facilitiesof FIG. 14 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.When deployed, one end of a tip cable 1802 is spliced to an OSP fibercable 1806 in a splicing area 1814. The other end of the tip cable 1802terminates on the OSP side of a Growth Unit within the FCDF 1810. Thisactivity is followed by the deployment of a groomed and linkedprefabricated equipment cable 1804 from an adjacent equipment shelf inthe same FCDF Growth Unit along a fiber cable pathway 1812 to anequipment bay connector 1816 which is attached to an equipment bay 1818.At this point all the jumpers spliced to prefabricated equipment cable1804 as part of the FCDF connector assembly are stored in the equipmentside of the Growth Unit within the FCDF mod 1810. Because there are lessthan six unequipped mounting positions within the equipment bay 1818 atthe time the prefabricated equipment cable 1804 is deployed, anadditional equipment bay 1808 is added to the equipment lineup.

As the equipment lineup grows with the addition of equipment bays, thelength of the horizontal section of the prefabricated equipment cableincreases in increments equal to the width of a standard equipment bay(for example, 26″) and the width of a cross aisle (for example, 4-5′)when cross aisles become applicable (for example, after 20 bays areincluded in an equipment lineup).

FIGS. 14-18, described above, illustrate the deployment of the FiberCenter physical fiber infrastructure and equipment when the OSP is in apoint to point configuration. The present invention is also adaptablefor deploying the physical fiber infrastructure and equipment when theOSP is in a ring configuration. FIG. 19 illustrates an example of aFiber Center component deployment in response to OSP in a ringconfiguration in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 19, COT (central office terminal) 1902 isinterconnected to two pairs of OSP terminations 1906 and 1908 on twoseparate shelves within the same Growth Unit in a FCDF mod 1904. Twocomplements of OSP cable 1910 and 1912 are deployed over separate cableroutes within a specific serving area and terminated within the sameGrowth Unit in the FCDF mod 1904.

The apparatus and process of the present invention is designed to evolveover time in an organized, flexible and manageable fashion. The FiberCenter embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 20-22 demonstrates the spaceplanning and management capability the present invention provides theuser OTC. FIG. 20 illustrates an example of the first three of nine timepoints in the deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. Each of blocks 2001through 2005, to the right of a FCDF 2006, represent the floor spacethat can accommodate a number of parallel equipment lineups eachcomprising twenty standard equipment bays. The spaces in between blocks2001 and 2005 represent cross aisles. The equipment lineup blocks (2001through 2005) will be occupied by stand alone central office equipment,switch equipment or both at various times over the life expectancy ofthe fiber infrastructure. Time point 0 illustrates an initial floor plandesigned to grow left to right from a FCDF 2006. Time point 1illustrates the establishment of the FCDF 2006 and the initialdeployment of equipment bays in block 2001. Continued deployment ofequipment occupies all of block 2001 during time point 2. A facinglineup is added to FCDF 2006 in response to continued demand for OSPfacilities.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of the second three of nine time pointsin the deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. At time point 3 equipment expansioncontinues into block 2102 of the equipment lineups to enable upgrades tonew technology. The oldest equipment (in block 2101 of time point 3),having been made spare as a result of upgrades, is retired. The initialoptical switch, OS 1, is deployed in block 2105 during time point 4 andtriggers upgrades from stand alone equipment to switch technology whichcauses significant numbers of stand alone equipment to be made spare.The migration from stand alone to switch equipment takes place overtime, as additional vertical services are incorporated in the switch, inresponse to customer demand. Additional obsolete equipment in block 2101is retired. The equipment bays occupied by the retired equipment inblock 2101 are now unequipped as a result of the removal of thoseequipments. Optical switch, OS 2, is deployed to the left of OS 1 inblock 2104 during time point 5. Removals continue and new equipment isdeployed in those locations that were previously unequipped in block2101. Obsolete equipment is retired in blocks 2101 and 2102.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example of the last three of nine time points inthe deployment and evolution of a Fiber Center in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. In time point 6, OS 3 is deployed,in the remainder of block 2204 to replace OS 1, which is then retired.Removals and the deployment of new equipment continues in block 2201.Obsolete equipment is retired in block 2202. Fiber cable from FCDF 2206to the retired OS 1 is redistributed to the location of the new OS 4 andupgraded. OS 1 is removed from block 2205 and OS 4 is deployed in block2203 to replace OS 2, which is then retired, in time point 7. Block2205, which was occupied by OS 1, has been cleared and can be reservedfor the deployment of a future optical switch or released for otheradministrative use as long as there is sufficient space to grow thefuture OS n from right to left. The progressive reduction of floor spacerequirements is a direct result of continued miniaturization of thephysical equipment as technology advances. OS 2 is removed from block2204 and OS 5 is deployed in the remaining space in block 2203 toreplace OS 3, which is then retired in time point 8. The retiredequipment in block 2202 is removed and deployment of new and theretirement of obsolete equipment continues in block 2201. Lineups ofoptical switch equipment bays can be deployed parallel to the fiberpathways or perpendicular to them. As each successive optical switch isdeployed, it is positioned closer to FCDF 2206 than the previous switch,therefore accessing the fiber pathway directly, with no optical switchin the fiber cable path and no need to cable over working equipment.

In addition to providing the capacity to manage a floor plan thatevolves with future developments, the process and apparatus of thepresent invention provides the user OTCs with the capacity to manageequipment cables over the life expectancy of each cable. Assume the lifeexpectancy of fiber equipment cable to be 25 years and the lifeexpectancy of central office equipment to be 10 years. All equipmentwill be installed, assigned, spared, retired and removed inapproximately 10 years. The equipment will change out 2.5 times over thelife of the fiber cable infrastructure. It can therefore be concludedthat the equipment is a plug-in that temporarily occupies a position inthe physical fiber infrastructure. Significant amounts of the fibercable infrastructure can now be managed and reused, rather thanabandoned and new fiber cable installed with the equipment representingnew technology. In the Fiber Center, the physical fiber infrastructureis installed, managed, used and reused. The fabric of the infrastructureis the physical fiber cable. The Fiber Center is designed to evolve overtime in an organized and manageable fashion. The specific goal is torespond to the deployment of OSP cable with the deployment of acomplement of groomed equipment cable, to equip that cable andultimately retire the equipment and re-equip the same cable. Thisscenario provides the user with the opportunity to change, rearrange orupgrade the connector assemblies during the interval between equipmentretirement and the re-equipping of the equipment cable. FIG. 23illustrates an example of the evolution of the fiber cables in a FiberCenter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.23 shows one FCDF mod over four time intervals.

Equipment terminations on a specific FCDF mod shelf evolve in a mannersimilar to the fiber cable evolution described above. FIG. 24illustrates the evolution of equipment terminations on an FCDF mod shelfin accordance with one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 24 shows oneFCDF mod equipment shelf (termination locations)over seven successivetime intervals. In FIG. 24, equipment shelf 2401 illustrates the initialdeployment of equipment cable on a particular FCDF mod Growth Unitshelf. Equipment shelf 2402 shows continued deployment and equipmentshelf 2403 illustrates full deployment. Equipment shelves 2404 and 2405represent that period of time, either before or at full deployment, whenequipment upgrades cause most or all of the initial equipment cables tobecome spare and when the obsolete equipments can be retired andremoved. Equipment shelves 2406 and 2407 illustrate the subsequentre-equipping of the initially deployed equipment cables, the progressiveupgrades to new technology which enables the retirement and removal ofobsolete equipments on a going forward basis.

The evolution of equipment terminations described above are related tocorresponding changes in central office equipments in an equipmentlineup. FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the equipment lineup evolutionwhich corresponds to the equipment shelf evolution in FIG. 24 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 25 showsthree equipment lineups 2501-2503 each composed of 9 equipment bays.Equipment lineup 2501 provides a graphic representation of an equipmentlineup which has grown from left to right from initial deployment tosome time approaching or at full deployment. The earlier deployed baysshow a number of equipment positions that have been equipped and madespare through upgrades to new technology. Equipment lineup 2502represents the retirement of those obsolete equipments located on aparticular bay that have been previously made spare. Equipment lineup2503 shows the subsequent re-equipping of those equipment locations thathave been made available as a result of those retirements. The FiberCenter, in part, mimics a line unit in a digital switch where line cardsare plugged in, removed and replaced with those that contain newfeatures and capabilities. The Fiber Center reuses its fiber cableinfrastructure in a manner that is similar to that of a digital switch.

In addition, FIG. 25 illustrates the evolution of equipment, in terms ofphysical size, from seven equipments per bay today, to thirty or moreper bay at some time in the not so distant future. The Fiber Center isdesigned to transition seamlessly from stand alone optical equipment tooptical ports of a digital switch and ultimately, to the ports of thefuture optical switch. The management and administration of fiber opticequipment is addressed in a manner that is comparable to the way digitalswitches are administered. The physical location of today's stand aloneequipments will become the location of the ports of a future opticalswitch. These locations are a factor of where and when stand alone orswitching equipment is placed to access the fiber cable pathway and howthe two are separated.

The process and apparatus of the present invention includes a softwaresystem which organizes the assembly and management of the Fiber Centerin response to customer and management demands. In one embodiment of theinvention, the software system accomplishes these goals by building areference data base for the Fiber Center. The following sectionsdescribe an example of a software system in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

The reference data base is the record that describes the physical fiberinfrastructure from the customer location to the Fiber Center equipmentlocation in an accurate and organized manner. The reference data base isa detailed record of all points of human intervention (for example,connection points; interconnections points; and splice points), allpoints of physical conversion (for example, OSP cable to tip cable;cable to individual fibers), all multiplex (optical to electricalconversion, OCn/DS3, electrical to electrical conversion, DS3/DS1,DS1/DS0) points and the physical hardware and cabling that links thesepoints. In response to demand, the software system describes theapplicable standard components and prefabricated equipment cables,assigns these components to a specific location and enters the resultingdescription into the reference data base.

An equipment order is generated based on the description and locationthat resides in the reference data base. The system can easily beinterfaced with computer aided design packages to facilitateconstructing prints for physical layouts and plot plans of equipmentlocations. In one embodiment of the invention, the Fiber Center isassembled according to the equipment order and the assembly is verifiedusing the description and location information from the reference database.

Verification is a sequential process that utilizes a system of bar codesto accomplish positive physical verification of an assembly described inthe equipment order. The actual verification is incorporated in thephysical assembly process and compares the bar code readings of theassembly to the bar codes in the equipment order. All components, bothoptical and structural, are physically verified, resulting in areference data base that is complete and accurate. The sequentialprocess of description, assignment, assembly and verification providesthe probability of extremely high data base accuracy.

The reference data base is the foundation for all other data bases to bebuilt upon. In one Fiber Center embodiment, to maintain data baseaccuracy, downstream data bases (TIRKS, SWITCH, etc.) have read onlyaccess to the reference data base. Downstream data bases can define anyreference data base component or location in a manner that is differentfrom or in addition to the description in the reference data base;however, downstream data bases cannot alter the component description orlocation in the reference data base. In one Fiber Center embodiment, amanagement command (described in greater detail below) permitsdownstream data base users to access an infrastructure design through aninfrastructure management module (described below).

The Infrastructure and Management System is a software control systemthat determines, orders, coordinates and manages all the physicalcomponents necessary to construct, expand and equip the physical fiberinfrastructure in an efficient, cost effective and user friendly manner.The software system of the present invention may be implemented by aninfrastructure design and management device. The infrastructure designand management device may be located on site or at a remote location. Inresponse to demand, the design and management device defines what is tobe assembled, assigns the assembly components to the appropriatelocations, establishes the description and locations in the referencedata base and creates the equipment order based on the description andassignments.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a design and management device, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Design andmanagement device 2602 comprises a processor 2604 connected to acomputer readable memory 2608 and an interface 2606. Memory 2608 storescomputer program code segments which, when executed by the processor2604, implements the main functionality for this embodiment of theinvention. These segments are separated into four modules: 1) aninfrastructure assembly module 2610, 2) an infrastructure managementmodule 2612, 3) a reference data base 2514, and 4) a fiber test system2616. The operation of the modules 2610, 2612, 2614, and 2616 will bediscussed in more detail below. Although in this embodiment of theinvention, the computer program segments are shown as three separatemodules, it can be appreciated that these modules can be furtherseparated into more modules or combined together to form a singlemodule, and still fall within the scope of the invention.

Using a keyboard or similar interface device (not shown), a user sendscustomer demand information to the assembly module 2610 via interface2606 and processor 2604. The customer demand information may includeservices which require a particular type of equipment. Processor 2604executes computer program segments stored in assembly module 2610 inresponse to the customer demand information to describe, assign, order,assemble and/or equip fiber spans. Assembly module 2610 also includesprice model computer program segments (also executed by processor 2604)which identify the components and labor required to satisfy the demand.In addition, assembly module 2610 includes computer program segments(also executed by processor 2604) which respond to information(described below) received from the management module 2612. Assemblymodule 2610 stores the design, location, and price information inreference data base 2614. Assembly module 2610 outputs the autotelephone equipment order (T.E.O.) (in conjunction with reference database 2614 and fiber test system (FTS) 2616) and verifies, monitors andcontrols the coordination, completion and turn up (put into service) ofthe assembled and equipped span.

Using a keyboard or similar interface device (not shown), a user sendsmanagement information to management module 2612 via interface 2606 andprocessor 2604. Management information may include automatic retirementof specific types of equipment as they become spare, the automaticremoval of retired equipment when all equipments on a specific equipmentbay are retired and the upgrade of connector assemblies when allterminations of an equipment cable become spare. Processor 2604 executescomputer program segments stored in management module 2612 in responseto the management information and issues the necessary engineering workorder to assembly module 2610 which completes the required operation.Management module 2612 also responds to various parameters and commandsto rearrange, upgrade, turn up, turn down (take out of service), retireand remove equipments and spans as required. Managing the Fiber Centerincludes all the operations other than those that are triggered directlyfrom customer demand.

The FTS (fiber test system) and communications panel are located on themiddle shelf of the equipment bay in each FCDF mod. The specific FTSappearance, when activated for verification and test of a span,identifies itself to the FTS in terms of FCDF mod and Growth Unit. TheFTS, in response to the identification, connects a test multiplexer tothat FTS appearance. The FTS appearance is activated using a portableassembly device (described below) which contains a copy of thedownloaded equipment order description and interacts with the FTS,sequentially, through the verification and test of the component(s) andspan(s). The portable assembly device references the equipment orderdescription, which is downloaded from the assembly terminal (describedbelow), records bar code readings at all assembly points, activates theFTS appearance, prepares the test multiplexer for the test of the spanand transfers all the bar code readings and test results to the assemblyterminal. Identification of the test location and comparison of the testvalues to the equipment order description and transmission estimate isan integral part of the process by which test and verification isaccomplished. The communication panel, in conjunction with the FTS,provides full maintenance and trouble report response capability tofault locate, isolate, test and trouble shoot problems as they occur,minimizing down time. All OSP cable facilities, remote equipmentconnected to those facilities, equipment cable and associated equipmentswithin the FCDF mod are tested from the FTS appearance in that mod.

Fiber test is accomplished by connecting the equipment cable and the OSPassignments to the FTS appearance, allowing the test multiplexer tocompare the actual reflected loss to those expected by the specific spandesign in the equipment order within a range of deviation. The testmultiplexer will enter those readings into the reference data base ifthey are acceptable. The test set up is verified prior to the actualtest of the span and the span is verified again subsequent to the test,when it has been restored to the service condition. The latterverification insures that the span is ready for service and is requiredfor the completion of the equipment order.

The design and management device and at least one assembly device islocated in the maintenance area within the Fiber Center, preferablyadjacent to the FCDF. The design and management device is the“gatekeeper” in the assembly process. All assembly activities requiringaccess to the reference data base and the FTS are enabled by the inputof an employee or authorized vendor personal identification number (PIN)and equipment order number into the assembly terminal. In response tothis input, the design and management device requests and receives theparticular equipment order description from the reference data base anddownloads a copy of it to the assembly device. The assembly device is aportable, hand held extension of the design and management deviceequipped with a keypad, liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and a dualbar code reader. The assembly device is a combination tool that recordsbar codes in pairs (two physically adjacent readings simultaneously) asit is used to plug or unplug fiber optic connectors, mount or removeconnectors in the equipment bay connector housing, add FCDF mods andspacers, add or remove standard equipment bays and place or removeprefabricated equipment cable in the FCDF cable ports. The assemblydevice compares the readings to the downloaded equipment orderdescription and responds to a match with “Assembly Complete/Ready toTest” or to a no match with a prompt to correct the assembly. Theequipment order cannot be completed with a no match or no reading. Theassembly device references the copy of the equipment order description,records bar code readings at all assembly points, activates the FTSappearance, prepares the test multiplexer for test of a span andtransfers all bar code readings and test results to the assemblyterminal. Identification of the test location and comparison of the testvalues to the equipment order description and transmission estimate isan integral part of the process by which verification and test isaccomplished.

FIG. 27 illustrates a flow chart which includes an example of the stepsfor using an assembly device with a design and management device inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. The assembler orassembly team (one or more craft persons trained in the assemblyprocedures) activates the design and management device by entering thePIN and equipment order number. The assembly terminal downloads theequipment order description and selects a portable assembly device foruse by the assembly team. A copy of the equipment order description istransferred to the selected assembly device, which is then unlocked andcan be dismounted for use by the assembly team. The assembly device isused to assemble and verify the various components required by theequipment order. When the assembly and verification is complete, thefiber span is set up for test at the FTS appearance on the FCDF mod. Theassembly device is then plugged into the FTS appearance, activates thetest multiplexer and uploads the equipment order description. The FTSperforms the tests required in the equipment order description andcompares the test results to those expected by the specific span designand if within allowable deviation limits, reflects those results to thereference data base and the assembly device. The assembly team restoresand verifies the span to the service condition and returns the assemblydevice to its mounting at the design and management device location. Themounting of the assembly device automatically uploads the equipmentorder number, description, bar code readings and verification to thedesign and management device which transmits the data to the referencedata base for completion and reflects that completion to the assemblyteam.

Although various embodiments are specifically illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of thepresent invention are covered by the above teachings and within thepurview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit andintended scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for deploying a telecommunications fiberoptic infrastructure comprising the steps of: deploying a fiber centerdistributing frame which forms a cable interface from at least oneremote equipment to at least once central office equipment, the fibercenter distributing frame comprising: a fiber center distributing framemodule having an outside plant portion, an inside plant portion, and anequipment cable port, wherein the inside plant portion further includesa plurality of inside mounting positions and the outside plant portionis proximately located to the inside plane portion; and the inside plantportion of the fiber center distributing frame module further includinga plurality of inside mounting positions wherein each one of theplurality of inside mounting positions includes the operating states ofequipped, unequipped and spare and is in a designated one of theoperating states including: equipped, unequipped and spare; connectingthe at least one remote equipment to the outside plant portion;connecting, through the equipment cable port, the outside plant portionto any one of the plurality of inside mounting positions which is in theequipped operating state; and grooming, on the outside plant portion,the connection to the at least one remote equipment with the connectionto the one of the plurality of inside mounting positions which is in theequipped operating state.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofconnecting the outside plant portion further comprises the step of:interconnecting the at least one equipped inside mounting position tothe outside plant portion.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingthe step of: aligning a plurality of standard equipment bays intoparallel rows substantially perpendicular to the fiber centerdistributing frame, wherein the inside mounting positions are includedwithin the plurality of standard equipment bays.
 4. The method of claim3, further comprising the step of: connecting the two parallel rows ofstandard equipment bays to one fiber center distributing frame.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further comprising the step of: connecting the twoparallel rows of standard equipment bays to one fiber centerdistributing frame using a fiber cable pathway.
 6. The method of claim3, further comprising the step of: connecting the two parallel rows ofstandard equipment bays to two fiber center distributing frames.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising the step of: connecting the twoparallel rows of standard equipment bays to two fiber centerdistributing frames using a fiber cable pathway.
 8. The method of claim3, further comprising the step of: deploying a standard length connectorjumper to facilitate connecting the at least one central officeequipment to an equipment bay connector, the equipment bay connectorbeing proximately located to an equipment bay corresponding to an insidemounting position on which the at least one central office equipment islocated; and coupling an equipment cable, using interconnect, betweenthe equipment bay connector and the outside plant portion.
 9. The methodof claim 8, further comprising the step of: deploying the equipmentcable along a fiber cable pathway.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising the steps of: deploying a standard length first section ofthe equipment cable, the standard length first section having a lengthto reach a farthest connector on the outside plant portion; deploying asecond section of the equipment cable, the second section having alength which spans a distance from the fiber center distributing frameto an equipment bay benchmark; and deploying a standard length thirdsection, the standard length third section having a length which spansfrom the equipment bay benchmark to the equipment bay connector.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising the step of: marking theequipment cable with at least one reference mark to facilitate deployingthe equipment cable along the fiber cable pathway.
 12. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising the step of splicing a plurality ofstandard length jumpers to the second section to create the firstsection.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:deploying a ratio of outside plant portion termination connections toinside plant portion termination connections, wherein the ratio is lessthan 1 to
 1. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the ratio is1:2.
 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the connection fromthe outside plant portion to the inside plant portion is made byinterconnection rather than cross-connection.
 16. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the fiber center distributing frame module includesa plurality of fiber center distribution frame shelves arranged so thatall equipped fiber span configurations within the plurality of fibercenter distribution frame shelves are interconnectable.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein the plurality of fiber centerdistribution frame shelves are each configured to accommodate 72 fiberspans.
 18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality offiber center distribution frame shelves are each configured toaccommodate 144 inside plant portion termination connections.
 19. Themethod according to claim 16, wherein the fiber span configurationsinclude at least one of a point-to-point span configuration and a ringfiber span configuration.